Saturday, May 5, 2012

::haters gonna hate - a minivan tale::

"I will never give up and drive around in a damn minivan. No matter how many kids I have. I will only drive a Suburban." - Brooke with only Lily and gas costing next to nothing.

Here is a little bit of unsolicited advice-

Don't be a hater.

Don't be a minivan snob.

Drive one for three weeks and you will want to own it. You might not admit it openly, but you will. You will be charmed by the power rear door, by the fact that the kids can't bang their doors into cars next to them, by the fact that you can change the seats around to suit any kid/goat/dog senario that may come your way.

When it was just Lily I had a cute little Passat station wagon that I just loved. It screamed "hot mom" to me. It was a fun little family truckster. Then I crashed it. While it was getting fixed my rental car was a minivan. I was so snobby and embarassed that I parked it far away from were people would see it. But it won me over slowly - with sliding power doors, and fold away seats, and lots of room, and all the sudden I found myself in love. But I fought it off for a few more years. Add two more babies and six more goats and I was begging Josh for a minivan.

After tons of research and price comparing we went with the Kia Sedonna. It fit me because I really wanted a Honda Odyssey and the Kia is like the generic version of it. Perfect. Much cheaper but still with good reviews. And I love it. We bought it gently used with low miles but an older model. It is perfect for the kids and creatures. This car is so flexible. I only regret not having bought one the second I saw my first plus sign in January of 2003. My dream of a Suburban makes no sense in the face of gas prices and what I know now about being environmentally conscience. I will drive this thing till the wheels fall off, and then buy another one. I might make it through 2-3 minivans before Quinn is off to college and I get my convertible.

Does anyone know were I can buy a MILF bumper sticker? Because in my little swagger wagon I need one.

3 comments:

I love minivans and will be needing one as soon as another kid decides to come along. Somehow having been drivin around in one my whole life didn't make me hate them. Perhaps that says something about me and my resistance to change. I want an Odyssey too so maybe I can go the generic way like you. Glad you finally came around. I kind of hate when people make fun of minivans.